Soros Partner Readies Fund Ahead of Retirement Return
William A. Ehrman biography 2013
1. William A. Ehrman
Investment Management ~ Private Equity
Over Bill Ehrman’s successful 35-year career in money management and
investment banking, his most significant achievement is his considerable
outperformance of the financial markets.
Bill served as Head of the Investment committee at Century Capital
Associates, followed by Head of Investments for Worldwide Equities and
Private Equities at the Quantum Fund. He was George Soros’ first partner.
Finally, he was the Founding Partner, CEO and Head of the Investment
committee at EGS.
Bill’s success is a result of his distinct view of the worldwide investment landscape coupled
with in-depth research, uncovering undervalued investment opportunities.
Bill has strong and unique relationships, both domestic and international, with the heads of
virtually every major brokerage, investment banking, and private equity firms, built over his
decades long career. They are the foundation of his inimitable ability to achieve superior
results while offering personalized, boutique services with major bracket capabilities and
resources.
After graduating magna cum laude from Lehigh University in 1971 with dual degrees in
economics and finance, Bill started his impressive career as an investment analyst at
Chemical Bank. During this time, Bill achieved his MBA from NYU with highest honors.
Following Chemical Bank, Bill served as the Assistant Director of Investment Research and
as a group head at Marine Midland Bank.
Bill’s next role was head of investment research at Century Capital Associates, primarily a
corporate pension firm. Bill quickly rose to the role of co-head of the investment committee
with Byron Wien (a well-known Wall Street market analyst who is now Vice Chairman at
Blackstone) while becoming the third largest partner in the firm, after the two founding
partners. During his tenure, assets grew from under $100 million to over $2.5 billion at
which point Century was sold to a well-known Canadian financial firm.
Following the sale of Century in 1982, George Soros recruited Bill to work with him at the
Quantum fund and became Soros’ first real partner while heading up the investment
committee for worldwide equities. Bill ran Quantum’s merchant banking activities, including
acquisitions, bankruptcies, and workouts. Assets increased from $300 million to well over
$8 billion during his tenure. During this time, Quantum participated in deals with Sir James
Goldsmith, the Rothschild Group, Wilbur Ross, and other notables.
Bill’s departure from Quantum in 1989 was sparked by his desire to start his own firm, EGS
Associates, a hedge fund, one of the most successful start-ups ever. Bill headed up
worldwide investments including the banking division, which also managed private equity
funds. Bill grew assets from zero to over $800 million during his 15-year leadership.
2. While money management was Bill’s forte, he also led investment banking and private
equity at each firm where he was partner, providing strategic advice to companies
worldwide, assisting them to raise capital to achieve objectives.
After a successful 30-year career running hedge funds, Bill decided in 2005, to pursue
investment banking full-time. Bill was a partner at Merlin Partners in Palm Beach, Florida
later becoming a partner at Santana Associates in New York City. At Santana, Bill assisted
multi-national corporations in formulating short- and long-term business plans, writing
offering memorandums, and raising capital from public and private sources to achieve key
objectives. He joined True North Resources in 2011 as a financial consultant and continued
to pursue investment banking opportunities worldwide.
Bill has recently decided to re-enter the hedge fund arena full-time, as he believes his
fundamentalist approach to investment is needed in today’s trading environment to achieve
superior market performance.
His new family of domestic and foreign hedge funds is called Paix et Prospérité (French for
“Peace and Prosperity”).